None are reviled more than males gifted with the sight. Cursed by Kosa, god of destruction, all who allow one among them will suffer an agonizing death. Few would be willing to face that fate for the sake of a boy who should not exist. Where Kaie is going, he will not find any.

His peaceful village has been invaded by outsiders from the Urazin Empire. Everyone he’s ever known has been murdered or enslaved. Captured and sold for a handful of coins, any safety Kaie might have found with those who love him disappears forever. He’s exposed, and it is only a matter of time before Kosa realizes what he is.

Kaie has more pressing concerns, though. Because those with magic have a worse fate waiting for them than enslavement. They have their magic - and their minds - ripped away from them by the malevolent people known only as Namers. If his power is discovered, Kosa will never get the chance to come for him. He will be emptied out and made Hollow.

Solution

“I’ve found the Catalyst.”

Four sets of eyes watched her without as much as blinking. Sweat coated Dujet’s palms, and she swallowed hard against her tightening throat. She had not expected such an audience. When she’d left her village two days ago, she had been prepared to speak with her contact in Barnmouth, or maybe to be sent as far as a city in the province of Lindel. She’d not been prepared to be sent on a sea voyage that had taken nearly a year to complete, or to be dragged in front of these four terrifying strangers in the great room of an abandoned inn. The glow of firelight did little to banish the strong sense of emptiness of the place. The whole town had been like that, from what she’d seen of the lonely streets and shuttered windows. She didn’t know if the people she spoke to now had found the town as it was, or if they had driven the residents out. She found herself inclined to believe the latter.

“You’re certain?” It was the white–haired man who asked. She had thought him attractive, at first. There was something wrong with him, though. There was no inflection in his voice, not even boredom. As she looked closer, she felt an oppressive nothingness about him. There was no shred of emotion anywhere about him. Dujet shivered.

“Y–yes.”

She had proven herself so skilled with a bow that Alma, leader of the Zetowan tribe, had requested her as an honor guard on the last trip to negotiate in Barnmouth. Her husband, Toman, was Light–giver to the tribe, and their son, Sojun, was the strongest to ever be born to the Zetowan family. Dujet was no leader, but she was an important woman, worthy of respect. She didn’t want to cower before these people. Yet every one of them filled her with so much fear that she could hardly find her voice.

“Are you?” asked the woman sitting next to the white–haired man. She might have looked nice, with a face shaped like a heart and full lips. But the bright red hair reminded Dujet too much of Alma, and the smile the woman gave was the same as a cat after a satisfying hunt. The woman wasn’t as frightening as the man, but that was not the same as being amiable. More, there was something about the way she moved that gave Dujet the sense that the white–haired man was not her equal, but her servant. “Do you have much experience in these matters, then? Shall we consider you an expert?”

“She knows,” hissed the other man. Though she was not certain he was man at all. His skin was sandy gray and the muscles beneath his flesh looked like vines, twisted in such unnatural ways that it made her stomach lurch to look on him. His face was that of a corpse long dead, and the green embers that burned in his eye sockets glowed malevolently. “She holds the gift of Thorns. They all know.”

Dujet nodded, eager for whatever protection the monster’s statement might provide her. “I found it. I know I did. I felt the power. I would know the feel of that anywhere. It was just like…”

It was just like the lurch that had run through her when she’d become a servant to the most powerful of all the gods. That surge of raw energy had made her heart shudder and a trembling weakness overtake every inch of her. It was not the sort of thing that anyone could mistake.

“Where?” the first man asked.

“In my home,” she answered. “Among the Zetowan tribe. It’s one of the children.”

The red–haired woman frowned. “That is troublesome. The Zetowan are protected.” The woman glanced around to the others at the table before turning her sharp gaze back on Dujet. “Which child?”

“I…” Dujet’s mouth snapped closed. She shook her head. “I don’t… don’t understand. I knew which one. I swear, by Kosa’s name, I knew. But now it’s… it’s all gone!”

“A spell,” the monster said. “Like the one they used to hide the Stone. They would hide it, like burying a gem among rocks.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the red–head purred. “We’ve put everything in place. The Stone will come to us, and my blood will make the Catalyst irrelevant.”

“A dangerous attitude,” the monster scolded.

“We don’t want the Catalyst dying on us. Then we’d have to start all over again. We need him in hand before we move,” the white–haired man agreed.

“Well what would you suggest, then? Do you know any spells strong enough to go against Creation?”

“We don’t need to break anything,” the final voice snapped. The second woman did not belong at that table. There was nothing special or terrifying about her. Her dark hair and olive skin was pretty, but not remarkable. Were it not for the light leather armor she wore, Dujet might have mistaken the woman for a servant or apprentice. “I will just get all of the kids.”

“What?” Dujet blinked rapidly. That couldn’t happen. The Zetowan would fight. She was not family anymore, but she had not fallen so far as to wish them harm. Her husband and children were still in the village. They weren’t involved with the Catalyst. At least, she didn’t think they were. She would know, certainly, if it had been one of her children. Surely, she would remember that. “But… my people... They’ve sworn themselves to Fate. They’ll never cooperate. They won’t let you take our children.”

The woman didn’t bat an eye. “Then I shall kill them all.”

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